Cuty Suzuki

Real Name - Yumi (Suzuki) Harashima

Birthdate - 10/29/69

5’1” 121 lbs. - Kawaguchi City, Japan

Athletic Background - n/a

Teacher(s) - [JWP Dojo]

Professional Background - JWP(`86-`98)

Aliases - Yumi Suzuki

Groups - none

Peak Years - `91-`95

Finisher(s) - 

- Cutie Special (Bridging Fallaway Slam)

- Dragon Suplex

- Double Footstomp

Favorites -

- German Suplex

- Jumping DDT

- Dragon Sleeper

- Enzui Knee Drop

- Front Dropkick

Place in History - Cuty Suzuki was a transformative character in Japanese women’s wrestling.  She was pushed as a sex symbol in a way that no previous woman had in the genre.  The JWP was the first serious competitor to the AJW and they used a different approach.  Yumi Suzuki made her debut shortly after the company’s debut and was quickly pushed.  She was good enough in the ring, but more importantly, she was an attractive young woman.  Her tag team with Plum Mariko, the Fighting Dolls, was a typical midcard tag team made up of two promising talents.  Cuty Suzuki became a beloved star to the point that she was even the featured heroine in a video game in 1990.  However, it was not until JWP fractured in 1992 that Cuty Suzuki was moved into the top mix with Mayumi Ozaki, Dynamite Kansai and Devil Masami.  Suzuki lost to Kansai in the finals of a tournament to name the inaugural champion of the promotion.  Working against monsters like Kansai and Masami or fellow idols like Ozaki and Hikari Fukuoka, Suzuki grew into a talented worker.  She was able to shine during the interpromotional supershows and was amongst the most popular of the women’s wrestlers at the time.  She fell to Dynamite Kansai once again in a tournament to fill the vacancy of the JWP’s Openweight title.  Curiously enough, Suzuki teamed with Kansai on numerous occasions to win the company’s tag titles.  By the late 1990s, the third boom period was cooling off and Cuty Suzuki was tired.  She, like many of her peers, had been worked hard for many years and injuries were taking their toll.  She had used her fame in pro-wrestling to find opportunities in modeling and acting, so a career after pro-wrestling probably did not seem so daunting.  Suzuki found other work, married and had a family, but still made appearances at JWP shows.  Although she was never the most spectacular, the most physical or the most credible, Cuty Suzuki had a simplicity to her matches and a likability to her personality that got over more than most of the women of her era.  She did have the appeal of looking like a mainstream Japanese model with a full figure and cute face, but that does not discount how effective she was in her role within JWP.